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Bandit Queen 3:030:00/3:03
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hugh McMillan takes the ‘Thieves into the studio in 2024
Photo: Mario De Meo
Perth, Ontario (01 March, 2024) - Eastern Ontario’s progressive-folk band, the Riverthieves, are excited to announce that they are working on a new recording project with Spirit of the West’s multi-instrumentalist, Hugh McMillan, to produce a full-length album in 2024.
“Hugh has been mentoring us for about a year now,” says Chris Knowles, one of the band’s three lead vocalists. “He started by coaching us back to ‘performance readiness’ for our shows last spring. We hadn’t played in front of a live audience since the lockdown and he really got us up to speed. We were sounding very good last year.”
“I was helping them tweak their live sound and stage show,” says McMillan, “and I had a good listen to their last CD, which was largely self-recorded. I was intrigued by some of the compositions, especially Tarin Kowt. It is an avant-garde piece – not at all like their other stuff. There’s a lot going on there so I dove into the original tracks, trying to make sense of it, and ended up circulating some ideas for a re-mix.”
“We loved how Hugh re-imagined Tarin Kowt,” says Sal De Meo, one of the song’s co-writers. “And we started plotting how we could coax Hugh into doing a more elaborate project with us.”
“Hugh has us back to basics,” laughs, Knowles. “He’s making us practice with a metronome! But he’s got us writing new material and we have about a dozen new songs in the works at the moment.”
“I haven’t really started to push them yet,” says McMillan, ominously. “We’ll see how they do in Fallbrook.”
Hugh is referring to a restored 19th-century barn in the Lanark Highlands where the band will be sequestered for a few weekends in April. They will work on their new material and arrangements of their established repertoire.
“We are hoping to have something ready to go in 2024,” says De Meo, “and find some opportunities to present a new show later in the year.”
The Riverthieves’ current line up consists of Sal De Meo (bass), Dave Hebert (percussion), Chris Knowles (guitar and vocals), Evan Lewis (fiddle), Finley Mullally (mandolin and vocals) and Javier Mullally (fiddle and vocals). Visit them at www.riverthieves.com.
Contact: Finley Mullally, info@riverthieves.com
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Riverthieves live concert Videos to be released this spring
(Perth, 01 February, 2024) The Riverthieves will be releasing footage from last year’s live concert at the Small World Music Centre in Toronto, over the course of the next few months, to their YouTube channel.
“Small World is such a great venue,” says Evan Lewis, the band’s fiddler. “We had a really wonderful show there and I’m so glad that we managed to capture that night on film.”
The band performed to a sold-out audience at the intimate theatre in the trendy Trinity-Bellwoods neighbourhood of Toronto in June, 2023. House technicians filmed the evening on five digital cameras and provided the raw audio for remixing. Hugh McMillan will edit, mix and produce the videos at his Dovecote Studio in Perth, Ontario.
“We got our performance chops up to speed very nicely by then,” adds Chris Knowles, guitarist and vocalist. “The fact that we were drawing audiences to full-length theatre shows of our original music, is something we’re really proud of.”
The Riverthieves made their post-pandemic return to live performance with five shows in 2023, booking small halls in Almonte, Chelsea, Ottawa and Toronto. Their performance run culminated with a main-stage set at the Stewart Park Festival, opening for Matt Anderson.
“Now that we are on hiatus, these videos will help us stay connected with our online community,” says Lewis. “We are really focused on writing and arranging new material right now, so the videos are a great way to keep our music circulating while we have our heads down.”
“We will start performing again in the summer [of 2024],” adds Knowles. “It’s great to have this time to focus on new material that we will work into the next live show.”
The Riverthieves’ current line up consists of Sal De Meo (bass), Dave Hebert (percussion), Chris Knowles (guitar and vocals), Evan Lewis (fiddle), Finley Mullally (mandolin and vocals) and Javier Mullally (fiddle and vocals). Visit them at www.riverthieves.com.
Contact: Finley Mullally, info@riverthieves.com
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Riverthieves In 2023
The Riverthieves launched their 2023 calendar on St. Patrick's Day in Almonte, Ontario, followed by dates in Ottawa, the Valley and Toronto.